Learn About Online Slot Machines and Playing Online

Monthly Archives: December 2014

Most online casinos use third party software to help power their sites and in particular the games they present to their customers. Some of the casino software companies are huge multinationals that help power literally hundreds of online casinos and slots sites, as well as producing slots and games for real world technology and live dealer games. Here we take a look at what makes a great casino software company and what difference it makes to you, the player.

What is a Casino Software Company?

Most sites use the games and technology provided by other companies, rather than creating their own games, because it is such a specialist field, with great resources needed to design and develop the sort of exciting, advanced and good-looking slots and casino games that you will find at the best sites. Moreover, because the games need to be multi-platform and also fully integrated with banking and finance systems, as well as other parts of the casino site, it’s often the case that these third party technology companies provide more than just games, offering secure financial solutions, interlinked games and jackpot networks and much more.

What Makes a Good Site?

Much of what makes a casino good, bad or indifferent comes down to personal taste but there are some things that most people would certainly want to see and expect and many of those things derive from the software the site uses, as much as the casino itself.

The best sites will have games that are available to play in instant play mode – which we prefer – and download versions, whilst increasingly many top online casinos also have mobile versions, meaning you can play great slots and games on your cell.

One obvious factor that is hugely important is the quality of the games and the range of options you have. The best software companies offer casino games that look and sound very nice indeed and have gameplay that is fun, striking the right balance between regular wins and big payouts.

Another thing the software will impact is the progressive jackpots, with most progressives running via the software company and networked across the various casinos they power.

Finally it’s important that, whether playing online or on your cell, the games are stable and secure because nothing is more annoying than games crashing mid-spin.

Behind every great slot is an innovative and reliable software company, and when it comes to the slots featured at many of the top USA-friendly online casinos, Realtime Gaming are at the top of the tree. They have been in the gaming software business since 1999, and they offer a wide range of slots, but it is there “Real Series” of slots – which have fantastic gameplay, graphics and sound – that we shall focus on here as we pick out some of the best RTG games out there at the moment.

Aztec’s Millions

Aztec’s Treasure was one of RTG’s early successes on the slots front, and in 2009 they followed it up with the (now classic) Aztec’s Millions, a five-reel, 25-pay line slot with a bright and breezy appearance and, crucially, a high-value progressive jackpot. With a range of scatter idols and some nifty gaming features, Aztec’s Millions has become a favorite for many a slots fan.

Naughty or Nice?

This is another RTG slot that has been around since 2009, but in 2013 the company released a mobile version of the game, a very welcome move. With 50 pay lines and five reels, and wild and scatter symbols galore, this festive-themed slot gives you plenty of options to win big, whether you like your girls to be naughty or nice!

Texan Tycoon

It’s all about oil country for RTG’s Texan Tycoon slot, a fun, well-constructed game which has some great features including wilds, multipliers, free spins and scatters. As with many of their most popular games, it follows the five-reel, 25-payline formula, and with prizes of up to $50,000 up for grabs, it is no surprise this has long been a popular option with players… but can you strike oil?

Caesar’s Empire

Finally, Caesar’s Empire harks back to Roman times for its inspiration, and the result is a lively, enthralling game that ticks all the boxes in terms of features, graphics and sound. With a progressive jackpot that often reaches respectable – rather than astronomical – heights, and a range of symbols offering free spins or other bonuses, this is one of the more lucrative slots from our experience and the perfect game if you fancy a glimpse of ancient Rome!

Playing slots online is great fun and you can even play on your cell phone, thanks to mobile slots and casinos. This means you can play slots pretty much anywhere you like and also at any time, even if you only have a few spare moments. Most – if not all – online slots and casino sites offer new customers a bonus when they first join and these offers give you a great chance to have lots of slots fun without risking lots of your own cash.

Slots bonuses are viewed as marketing by the slots sites themselves and are used to attract new customers but for us, the slots fans, they are a great way to test out new sites, new games or both.

How do slots bonuses work?

Some sites will actually give you 100% free cash, meaning you don’t need to make a deposit at all in order to play, and you cannot lose any of your own money. These no deposit casino and slots bonuses are the best around because, whilst you can win real money, as you haven’t actually made a deposit, you literally cannot lose. No deposit bonuses tend to be quite small – maybe $20 or so – and they also have very high wagering requirements, meaning you must stake a certain amount before you can withdraw the bonus and/or any winnings from it.

A more frequent type of bonus is a deposit match, whereby you deposit a certain amount into an online casino and they boost your deposit. Normally most casinos offer at least a 100% match but some offer 200%, 300% or even more, meaning that if you put, for example, $200 into your account, a 300% bonus will leave you with $800 to play with! Wagering requirements again apply before you can withdraw, but even so these bonuses mean you can bet much larger amounts than you might normally.

Can I profit from casino bonuses?

The casinos aren’t crazy, so you can’t simply withdraw the bonus and run, but with just a little bit of luck you have a great chance of using the bonus to accumulate some big wins and complete the bonus wagering with a nice profit. Even if you don’t you’ll still have plenty of excitement along the way! Good luck!

If you’re new to playing online slots or you are just looking for some advice on how to play them more profitably, you’ve come to the right place, because we’ve got some top tips that could help you win more when you play slots. That might make it sound like we have a silver bullet with which to slay the slots vampires, but in truth there is no guaranteed way to win playing slots – if there was, casinos would go bust… and where would be the fun in that?

However, there are some little tricks and strategies you can use – as well as pitfalls you can avoid – to give yourself the best chance possible to win when you spin the reels.

Our first piece of advice is to pick a casino that offers a good welcome bonus – that is to say, a bonus that applies to slots, has fair wagering requirements and offers a good percentage boost on your first deposit. If you do that you may actually just about have the edge on a casino, but in order to ensure this is indeed the case you need to make sure you check the terms and conditions of whatever slots bonus you sign up for.

Once you have your bonus make sure you only play eligible games as some casino sites do not include play on progressive slots towards the bonus rollover requirements. On the other hand, if you’re playing with your own cash, rather than a bonus, playing a progressive slot can actually be another very good way to turn the odds in your favor, albeit with an incredibly low chance of hitting the big, often VERY big, jackpot.

When progressive slots reach a certain level of jackpot, the odds of you hitting that jackpot compared to the total payout can actually be favorable, such is the staggering size of the jackpot. Of course, you still have to be extremely lucky to win, but if you like progressives anyway, only playing them when the jackpot is very high certainly makes sense.

For standard slots play the best betting strategy is to choose a slot with a low house edge. This gives you the best chance of profiting overall so it’s worth checking on the site or with customer support what the payout percentage is on your favorite slots.

Whatever online slot you play you will need luck… and we wish you all the best!